the salty coast

What will I remember about 2005? 1. The MTV Europe Awards took place in Lisbon 2. Benfica won the championship in 2005. 3. Our national team qualified for the World Cup. 4. Fires, fires and more fires! 5. In March 2005, they elected a new Prime Minister, choosing the Socialist party to run the country with Jose Socrates as its leader. That's all I can remember...you?

One of today's posts is to celebrate a very important tradition when one goes to Portugal. This tradition is to have a tosta mista sometime during your stay. It would not be a good trip to Portugal without one of its famous tostas mistas. Photo courtesy of Brigitte Boitel Bonfils ( site ). Her site has got some great photos of Portugal, so check it out!

Funny thing happened while searching for the latest news stories. I bumped into this . Yo. Kevin Federline's got a new hip-hop album droppin' in the '06. If you wanna taste of what'z to come, check out the firs' single, "PopoZao", a'ight? Alright. So, it's been all over the Internet lately, and I myself wondered what the heck that frickin' word meant - I just figured he must have meant it to be paparazzi or something one of his kids blurted out to him, or maybe something he and Britney came up with while making out. Then, I actually gasped when reading this: And if you're wondering what "PopoZao" means, you're probably going to have to wait for an explanation from Mr. Spears himself because no one seems to know. However, I did do some quick researching and saw some speculation that "PopoZao" came from the Portuguese slang term for "big butt". Well... That sounds like something that he'd rap about, so ...

Have you ever wanted to tell a good joke at a Portuguese party (in Portuguese?). There is a Portuguese site , which is great for this stuff. Visit banco.de/anedotas @ http://anedotas.aeiou.pt

Have you ever had to do business in Portugal? Me neither, unless you call haggling with the merchants at the flea market "doing business", but I have always wondered what it is like. Well, there are tons of web sites about business etiquette out there, and I found one that was of particular interest. There is also a lot more here . The person who puts this together, did a great job, but I wonder how old this information actually is? Here is what he had to say about punctuality: Punctuality is not an important cultural trait. It is courteous to arrive five minutes late and definitely bad news to arrive before the agreed time. Quarter of an hour late is not usually noticed. Over half an hour begins to be rude. Nevertheless, the Portuguese are usually aware that foreigners operate differently, so I would still recommend being on time [plus five] and 'phoning in' if you're delayed. Just don't expect your contacts to follow the same rules. Ain't that the tru...

It is that time of year, about 2 weeks before Christmas, when all hell breaks loose in my Portuguese household. Food starts to be made, shopping trips being planned and the joy of the season can be heard throughout the house. Above, a photo illustrating a typical table setting for the "consoada" (which is the Portuguese translation of Christmas Eve). Here is a list of popular dishes for Christmas. It is in Portuguese, which doesn't help if you don't know the language. A popular dish every Portuguese Christmas Eve is bacalhau - aka Cod Fish - Many different ways to make it, here's a Canadian recipe titled "Bacalhau" Then, there's all kinds of side dishes and other tasty treats like: Bolinhos de Bacalhau . Recipe is available here . Rissois de Camarão Recipe is here .

In this week's edition of "are they really portuguese?", we feature Danielle Steel. Believe it or not, the very popular author has Portuguese roots. Have you been to her web site? You should. There are over 2 million sites featuring Danielle Steel. Click here to view her official site. Here's an excerpt from her profile: America reads Danielle Steel. And so does the rest of the world. There are more than 530 million copies of her books in print, and every one of her books is a bestseller. In short, Danielle Steel is the most popular author writing today. She is read by women, men, young people, old people in 47 countries and 28 languages.